


Oh Well, She's Not Alone

by orange_slices



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Recovering, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 10:43:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_slices/pseuds/orange_slices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy is awake at 1:00 AM. Darcy should not be awake at 1:00 AM. Neither should Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh Well, She's Not Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! This is my first fic, so no judging if anything is ooc. Anyway, enjoy ^.^

For once, every Avenger is asleep. Tony’s snoring his ass off next to Pepper, hogging all the covers. Natasha and Clint are deathly silent in their own rooms; you would think them dead if their chests didn’t rise and fall every few seconds. Bruce is sprawled out over the mattress, his leg sticking out of the bed. Steve’s hidden under the covers, keeping warm. Thor snoring his ass off too, but Jane doesn’t mind, and Sam is nearly as quiet as the assassins.

But Darcy isn’t an Avenger. She’s still an intern, working tirelessly for Jane and her science! team. Buzzing from numerous coffees and tapping away gently at her computer keys, she sits in the Avengers’ Common Room, all the lights off but the bright blue glow of her laptop illuminating her face. Darcy’s used to this, late nights on workdays, maybe talking to faraway family members or just browsing the internet. Sometimes, if she’s really bored, she’ll type up some of Jane’s notes and watch her face light up with gratitude in the morning.

Normally, Darcy just can’t get to sleep. She’ll finish work at nine, stay in her room until midnight, and then creep back into the Common Room. She doesn’t like to stay in her apartment, especially after a nightmare.

She doesn’t get them often. Maybe just a little more than a regular human being. I mean, she has fought Dark Elves and seen the Destroyer at work. Sometimes, those events twist and become her nightmares; the ones that leave her wild-eyed and sweaty at night, dripping with sweat and scream lodged in her throat.

This time, the Dark Elves killed everyone. Darcy was about to get the chop too, but she’d been jolted awake, still smelling the blood on her hands and tasting the stench of death on the tip of her tongue. Everyone knew Darcy had a vivid imagination, so that was probably why her dreams always seemed so real. 

She’s so busy sipping her coffee and typing away on her laptop that she doesn’t notice someone else come in. It’s only when she drains her cup and moves to wash it up does she notice him, leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms folded and his eyes boring into her.  
He’s James Barnes. Bucky, to most people. Or the Winter Soldier, Darcy’s heard all the talk. Still, she thinks he’s changed since he first came here, tense and threatening. Now he seems better, a bit more independent and a little safer to be around.

“Oh.” Is all she can manage, regarding him with curiosity and maybe some nervousness. “James, right?”

He says nothing. That doesn’t stop Darcy. She turns away from him, starting up the tap and rinsing her cup. “It’s crazy late, huh? I thought I was the only one up.” She turns to face him again, mirroring his position and determined to carry out a conversation. She can engage in some one-sided chatter, it wouldn’t kill her. Or him, she’s noticed he usually trails around after Steve or Sam.

“I have nightmares, sometimes.” She explains, and his face gives off an expression. Sympathy? Understanding? The look doesn’t settle quite right on him, almost like it’s been unused for a while. That doesn’t deter Darcy.

“I normally just struggle with sleeping in general. But tonight, I guess I just had a bad dream or a memory stirring. I work with Jane Foster. D’you know her? The woman with Thor? And... Yeah, there was this thing at Greenwich a few years back and these aliens came down and tried to kill us all. It was scary and kinda awesome.” She admitted, scanning his face to see if she was making him uncomfortable. Barnes had one eyebrow raised, Darcy guessed it was at least a good thing she had his attention.

“It’s probably a trivial thing, compared to the other’s.” Compared to you, she wanted to say. “But the fact is, they’re so real, y’know? You can smell and taste and touch stuff. It leaves you in this panicky, frantic state. And as soon as your brain starts to calm down, starts to realise you’re dreaming, you get kicked out of your head with only the memories of your terror. I hate it.” She admits. He’s fully looking at her now, really looking at her. His face is like a blank canvas, but his eyes are scanning her face, every inch of it.

She gives a bitter laugh. “It’s pretty stupid. I tend to get worked up over these things because they’re not a common occurrence. I need to man up.” She gives him a half smile before she crosses the room and picks up her laptop. “Sorry for disturbing you, I’m normally out here quite a lot, especially at night. Though I don’t talk this much.” She adds as an afterthought, before turning away to go. It’s only as she’s halfway through the door that she hears him. His voice is rough and scratchy, slicing through the silence in the air like a knife.

“I get them too.”


End file.
